1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toy vehicle, and particularly to improvements in a handle post which is provided in a toy vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A toy vehicle to be enjoyed by a child who rides it comprises a vehicle body, and front and rear rotatable wheels disposed under said vehicle body to support the latter, the upper surface of said vehicle body being formed with a seat for a chile to sit on. Disposed forwardly of the seat is a handle post provided with child's grips for a child which projects upwardly from the vehicle body. Such toy vehicles are propelled by a child who sits on the seat, with his hands holding the grips and his feet kicking the ground. Such grips are fixed to the handle post and in some design they are also fixed to the vehicle but in other designs they serve as a steering handle. In the case where the grips serve as a steering handle, they are rotatively operated whereby the handle post is rotated around its own axis, so that the front wheels connected thereto have their direction changed, thus making it possible to change the direction of travel of the toy vehicle during driving.
To meet various consumer demands, makers of toy vehicles of the type described above prepare various articles which different external appearances or add suitable playthings.
For example, means for changing the external appearance of a toy vehicle at low cost is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,080. In that patent, there is disclosed a technique wherein a portion of a vehicle body of rigid plastic material corresponding to the bonnet is made in the form of a molding separate from the molding of the rest of the vehicle body and then these moldings are integrated. Employing such an arrangement makes it possible to change the external appearance of the toy vehicle at relatively low cost and to offer a variety of toy vehicles with different external appearances. The reason is that the bonnet portion has the greatest influence on the aesthetic design of the entire toy vehicle and that, moreover, the cost of a mold for the bonnet portion alone is lower than that of a mold for the entire vehicle body.
Further, as described above, there is also proposed a toy vehicle having a plaything added thereto. Such a plaything is generally disposed on the bonnet portion or contained below the seat.